Usual disclaimer--Rurouni Kenshin is the creation of Nobuhiro Watsuki, with the manga and anime rights belonging to Jump Comics and Sony Entertainment, respectively. FF is non-profit, meant for entertainment only and can be archived anywhere, just let me know where. Please send no flames, I'm sensitive. But for all other comments you may contact me through this website or my own.
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CHAPTER SIX : Where voices echo . . .
In the distance, as the first rumbles of thunder rolled through the evening sky, the first signs of lightening began to flash; lighting up the evening with silver-blue bright patches that nearly split the sky in half. A storm was coming and soon, the very air as well as everything around them would be overcome by it.
Not much longer now, Kaoru thought. But hopefully a little longer still, Yahiko wasn't yet home and she worried about him getting caught in the first winter storm. Though she worried regardless, it was way past ten o'clock and he had never been this late before she thought, sighing in agitation as she glanced towards the front gates and still found no Yahiko walking through the door.
She was going to beat him up for making her worry so, she thought. Yahiko no baka, this was time she could have spent with Kenshin, happily watching out for him as he remained asleep.
"Kaoru?"
Her head snapped back. "I'm going to kill you," she assured, walking the distance that separated them before sighing and enveloping him in her arms. "I was worried Yahiko. You've never stayed out this late before."
"Yeah," Yahiko nodded, "Sorry about that, Tae closed a bit late, there was bit of a brawl and I stayed to help her clean up." He finished, brow slightly furrowed as he noticed, the lack of light behind her. "Is everything ok?" He asked, watching her face as she seemed to decide something.
"Yahiko," she began, wondering if she should kneel or something to make him understand her, at least a bit before his I told you so, could reach Kenshin's ears.
"I want you to keep quite about my trip to the market today, ok."
"Why, what happened? Where's Kenshin?" Yahiko asked, a look of concern washing across his face.
"He's . . . sick. I went into town to get him some medicine and things but . . ." She was not going to tell him, she thought. It was embarrassing enough that he'd been right. "I . . ."
"What? You got into a fight again?"
It was not easy telling him when his eyes were rolling all over the place like that she thought, eyes narrowing slightly. "No I didn't get into a fight." She snapped. "But Kenshin . . ."
"Stop pausing," Yahiko bit. Temper dangerously close to the surface since he'd seen her with that guy, which reminded him suddenly. "Who was that guy you were with earlier?"
"Yahiko," she hissed, pulling him by the arm and towards the shadows, careful glances thrown over her shoulder as they hid beneath them. "Look," she said, already more than a little annoyed. "I need for you to do me this one favor all right. Don't mention me going to the market and never, ever mention that guy in front of Kenshin, do you understand?"
"Kaoru . . ."
"Yahiko, this is important." She snapped, lowering herself to her knees in a fit to make him understand. "I'm not playing any games here, Kenshin can never know."
"Kenshin . . ." Yahiko began, eyes narrowed as a bit of understanding dawned on him. Kaoru was afraid . . . of Kenshin. Which made no sense at all because even when Kenshin turned all Battousai . . . "Oh," he thought, eyes widening as Kaoru's face began to pale.
"Yahiko," she pressed, "You have to keep quite about this. You can't tell Kenshin anything about today. Do you understand?" She was going to start shaking him like a doll if he didn't nod soon, she thought. Eyes slightly worried as she continued to glance at the door.
"Did he . . ." Yahiko paused, unsure of what he meant to ask but—"Are you ok?" He asked, concern making her smile.
"I'm fine, Kenshin . . . I fine," she assured. Eyes, gliding away from his before sighing somewhat more at ease, now that Yahiko had returned.
"Alright," he reassured, brotherly concern taking over his features as he helped her stand. "I won't say anything. But you have got to be more careful Kaoru; you can't just go around talking to strangers." He went on, speaking to her on some level, out of concern she thought as she smiled at him—
The echoes of Kenshin's screams, made them freeze. For a moment, blank of thought before they moved, as fast as their legs would carry them, barreling their way through the halls until Kaoru reached his room; heart, painfully small as she slammed the shoji aside.
"Kenshin?" Kaoru called, stepping away from Yahiko who seemed afraid to move away from the wall. "Kenshin, can you hear me?" She asked. Carefully kneeling in front of him before grasping his shoulder, "Kenshin," she called, heart tearing as he began to sob. "Kenshin please," she pleaded, shaking him lightly and then harder as he began cry.
"Maybe . . . Maybe you should slap him," Yahiko said, dark brown eyes, glistening with the beginnings of unshed tears.
No, Kaoru thought, that might scare him and I don't know who would then wake up. "I better not," she said, pausing in her shaking as she looked at his tear stained face.
"Kenshin," She murmured, eyes glistening and spilling as she pulled him towards her. "It's all right, Kenshin. It's all right," she murmured over and over again until some part of him, seemed to understand. And sleep as he'd once known it, came for him again.
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In the beginning—confusion was but an escape from last nights thoughts. All memories of dream and nightmare forgotten as he slowly began to unwind, shaking sleep out of his mind as he uncoiled limbs from restrictive confines; hands and heart stopping alike as they touched upon a sleeping Kaoru, who'd coiled around his side in what could only be a need to comfort. Though him or her, he could not decipher.
Last night . . .
He could not remember—he realized, not anything at all, not since . . . Since, he had tried to leave the dojo, since Enishi and that damn envelope . . .
'But that couldn't be right,' he thought, brow furrowing slightly, as he recalled the last of his thoughts. His recollections of the dream and waking up, slowly fleeted through his mind; making him wonder once again why he could not seem to recall anything beyond that time, beyond that dream and Kaoru, who he remembered, had been asleep on her futon when he'd at last come inside, not here, in this room where the very darkness around him seen to want to touch her, he thought. Closing his eyes against a dizzying spell, he had not been aware of.
As the image of her sleeping form rose in his minds eye, he knew without a doubt it could not to be the same night, she had had different clothes on he remembered. Though for that matter, so had he, he mused, a perplexed expression washing over his face as he regarded Kaoru once again, curious underneath it all, by the unexpected manifestation of her sleeping in his room.
Is it not true? He wondered; eyes lit a pale lavender in the darkened room, soft as they lay upon her and yet, Kenshin sighed. Regardless, he thought—"Sessha cannot be with you."
For now, that amalgamation of self deceit and untruth had to be enough to keep himself away, he reasoned, shaking the drowsy feeling from his conscious as best he could before crouching down to take her in his arms. Gently moving her a bit aside before laying her down on his futon, covering her with the many blankets she'd no doubt set out before carefully brushing his fingertips across her temple and slowly then withdrawing from the room.
Confused on so many levels, he did not know what to do. Something like this had never happened to him before; even after Tomoe's death when grief had seemed like it might never end. He had not been moved by the hand of death. He had loved and he had lost. But he had not been shattered by that sense of loss. It shamed him even now to think he might have not really loved Tomoe, not as she loved him or as he suspected he might love Kaoru.
"Kaoru . . ."
Was it not enough, he wondered, to have brought the Meiji to Japan, to have lost his sense of self and any other bit of humanity Kaoru had somehow learned to nurture . . . Was it not enough, he reasoned, suddenly fisting a hand against the wall as he took support from another wave of dizziness. "Was it not enough," he murmured—
"To be worthy of her now . . ."
He shook his head, sad understanding angrily working its way from his heart to eyes his eyes before he slowly turned away. Leaving the dojo grounds in a veil of shadows created by the rain and darkened sky, heading towards a place he had only ever been to once in his life. Reasoning, as he always did, that what he could not forget, he could drown away as he'd once had learned to do in his younger days.
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Coping with the situation as Battousai had once done, went remarkably unnoticed by the forefront of his conscious thought. As he entered Sano's favorite place; Toushi, a mixture of drink and smell of men suffused the air, evoking such a feeling of De'ja vu across his senses, his eyes narrowed.
Frustration barely concealed shone bright and clear across the serious set of his expression; as he moved across the room, small water droplets continuously fell from his clothes, slowly pooling into a tiny puddle as he took his seat in a corner of the room. Light barely visible from the shadows did little to intrude.
Eerily similar to past occasions, it was the attendant at the bar who rushed over to his table, quickly setting down a bottle of sake and it's dish before quickly disappearing from his sight.
Hair as dark as blood now clung wetly to his face, doing little he knew, to shroud his identity from the masses. But even then he moved his bangs aside, unveiling his face as he took a drink. Light, pale lavender eyes almost lost to a hint of gold, resurfaced now and then as he took a drink. A small smile working its way up to his lips as a spike of fear emerged from the closest men. A swarm of murmurs all around before the taste in his mouth, regained that bitter tang of copper and salt. Sake, tainted like his drinker, he mused. Angrier than he could imagine for reasons still unknown.
He had lived through chaos and violence and anger, Kami only knew. Through out the Bakumatsu, despite a sliver of guilt, he had never once been afraid of the blood that stained his hands. Not until Tomoe, when she had laid heavy in his arms, face streaked red by the droplets of his cut marring her lifeless face—had he felt the first stirrings of that fear.
But now, in view of such recent events, with this cut on his hand and the memory of all her blood, staining his blade; he found, he could no longer understand . . . No matter how much he reasoned, it was just a dream. He did not understand.
How had he managed to run into the forest? And how, did he ever trip in the exact same place he had dreamt. How was it even possible, for him to have gotten from the dojo to forest without ever tripping until then? He could not understand. And it worried him even more now that his dreams and reality had found a common thread.
The echoes of his dreams, he would admit, had finally found a way; resonating within his dreams until the stirrings of an amber gaze had roused from that place he'd thought had kept him safe. If he couldn't manage to find a way to control that stirring soon, he himself would be locked away. And Kaoru, whom the rurouni part of him had come to love beyond thought, he feared, would forever turn away from that amber gaze. No matter how much he yearned for her affections, she would never look at him the same again Battousai would make sure of that, he thought, closing his hands around the small dish so tightly, it shattered beneath his grip.
A slow even breath and a pause in the soft murmurs around him was enough for him to refocus all that anger, reigning it back a little tighter before he rose, eyes a dark purple now as he walked towards the attendant who he noticed, had grown a little paler than before.
"Hi . . . Himura-san," the man began, his voice only wavering a little. "I . . . Gomen," he apologized, bowing deeply to a confused rurouni.
"My name—"
"Aa," he said, laughing nervously as Kenshin's eyes began to narrow. "Well Sano used to come here all the time. And you . . ." He cleared his throat, discreetly wiping at the sweat on his brow with the back of his hand. "You were here when that man Kurama tried to kill my brother over his bill . . ." he trailed off, watching nervously as Kenshin nodded. His expression slowly clearing to something more familiar, a little less threatening than what he'd seen when the ex-hitokiri had first come in. Which reminded him suddenly—"Your bill is on the house." He said, concern beginning anew as something strange flashed across the rurouni's face.
"You don't have to—"
"But I insist," the bartender said, ignoring the slight tremble the hitokiri's voice produced in him before putting it aside and letting something like a smile ghost across his face. "Alright?"
Kenshin nodded, purple eyes, a little darker as he headed back out into the rain, clothes and hair still matted against his skin as he dissolved into the shadows like legend had always said.
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When morning dawned, thunder and lightening, still in battle over the darkened sky, Kaoru awoke with a bit of start, jumping in place as another clasp thunder roared with the sounds of dragons tearing up the ground. Frightfully peeking around, as the sounds died off and she couldn't help but yawn as she realized she wasn't in her room and Kenshin, she sighed was not in his either. Though he should have been, he was still sick she reasoned. He hadn't had enough medicine for the fever to go down. Kenshin no baka, she thought, silently fuming as she rose from his futon, folding over a blanket, she was sure he must tossed over her at some point during the night. Not that it mattered that was twice now, he just up left, she thought angrily tossing the blanket and futon into a corner in the room before stomping out.
He could be so thoughtless sometimes; she fumed, working her way through the house and into the kitchen. Knowing that with the weather and all, he wouldn't have dared left the house, not unless she specifically said it was ok.
Rurouni no baka, just wait till I find my bokken, she thought, ki spiking with vindictive eagerness as she entered the kitchen—only to find no one in sight.
"All right," she murmured becoming a bit perplexed as she wound back around, heading instead to Yahiko's room. That good-for-nothing rooster head and Yahiko had always had that in common; neither, she knew, could break the bad habit of sleeping in until someone came along with a bucket full of water she thought, smiling a little at the distant memory.
"Yahiko," she called, knocking on the wood panel of his shoji. "Yahiko."
She waited a few seconds, ear pressed close against the soft-rice paneling, but nothing happened and she sighed again before carefully opening the door.
His bed was unmade which was no surprise to her at all. He never made it up unless someone made him. Besides, it was raining she reasoned, so he must have gotten up for food and then . . . Well, he would have wanted to come back to bed she thought. Closing the door with a distinctive snap as she wondered where either of the two might have gone.
The training hall, it occurred to her as a likely place for Yahiko to have gone but Kenshin—"He better not have left," she whispered. A sudden shiver running down her spine, as something akin to fear flashed behind her eyes.
Determined now to find either one, she step outside of the main room and out into the back, making her way to the veranda. As she watched, a slight sprinkling rain suddenly turned into a full-out down pour, washing over the yard with such force, she barely heard the sounds of thunder, booming not too behind a distinctive light which lit the sky—
"Kaoru?"
"Ii-tai!"
"Kaoru! Kaoru are you ok?"
"Do I look ok?" She snapped. Raising herself off the wet ground as Yahiko peered down at her.
"Sorry," he apologized, wincing as he took a look at her mud ridden kimono. "I didn't mean to make you fall." He said, a slight smile trying to break across his face.
"I going to kill you," she assured, wincing a little as he grabbed her hand.
"It still hurts?"
"Yeah," she nodded, holding it close to her chest as she looked around the yard. "Have you seen Kenshin?"
"No. Have you checked his room?" He offered, peering at Kaoru for a moment before sighing as he realized they still hadn't moved. "Kaoru, it's raining."
"Yes? I didn't realize," she bit.
"Whatever then, I'm going back to bed." He snapped, turning back around and stepping back on the veranda. Glancing casually back at her as she peered off into the distance.
"You're going to get sick, if you just stand there Busu."
She glared at him immediately. "You better watch yourself Yahiko-chan. You wouldn't want Tsubame to find out you wrote her a poem would you?"
"You ugly hag . . ." he breathed. "And here I was almost worried about your health," he fumed. Dark eyes narrowed as he saw her smile and wad up a step towards the veranda. All it would take was one push he thought, one push and she'd fall back into all that mud.
"If you tell Tsubame . . ." he threatened.
"You'll what?" She snapped. Deep blue eyes narrowed as she towered over him. Gaze dark in amusement as she watched him look between her and the muddy yard, his thoughts only too clear on his intent. She prepared herself to grab on to his hand as she fell back.
"I'll tell Kenshin."
"Tell him what?" Kenshin asked voice soft and amused, as he caught the strangest expression on their face.
"Nothing!" They chorused, ki spiking simultaneously which even to him implied a shared lie.
"Nothing," he murmured watching them carefully as they refused to meet his gaze. A distinct air of fear blanketing his senses with some concern as they seemed to try and hide it, nervous eyes sliding across his face before they sighed, heads hung low as defeat surrounded them.
"Kenshin," Kaoru said, voice soft as he regarded her. For a moment blank of thought as he rushed over to her side—"Kaoru-dono," he murmured, realizing for the time since he'd across them, how wet both had become. "You need to change, that you should" he said, looking seriously at the both of them before pushing Yahiko in the direction of his room and taking Kaoru by the hand.
"Kenshin," she winced, pulling her injured hand from his grasp as he regarded her. Purple eyes a little lighter than usual but nothing really out of the ordinary, she thought. Watching him watch her before something in his gaze dimmed.
"Does your hand still hurt Kaoru-dono?"
She nodded, wishing anything but to remain silent. She wanted to ask him where he was. Why he'd left her so suddenly this morning as well as what he had dreamt the night before to have upset him so.
"Sessha will take care of it then," he said, flashing a rurouni smile in her direction which always seemed to have the desired effect, even when she didn't want it to, she blushed. Abruptly turning around and walking away. Thoughts of Kaoru no baka filling up her head until concerns over what to wear won out over common sense.
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It didn't take long for him to find the things he would need to take care of her wrist. Though he worried she had fallen again and caused further damage, he could not leave the house while she was still awake. He knew how much she worried when he was out of her sight, he thought, feeling light devotion suddenly darken as a flash of ki and anger, spiked somewhere in the house behind him. As he abruptly turned around, dark-eyes narrowed as he sensed out its direction. Kaoru barreled her way into the room.
"You," she pointed, face pale and accusing. "You're sick and I can't believe I could forget something like that." She fumed, snatching things out of his arm as she dragged him by the arm.
"Kaoru-dono?"
"Don't Kaoru-dono me," she snapped. Turning around so quickly, he might have knocked her down, had he been anyone else.
"But sessha—"
"Does not feel fine," she interrupted. Anger flushing her features a light pink hue he found a little distracting. As he tried to step away, Kaoru's hand tightened. "You did not take enough medicine yesterday for you to feel fine Kenshin. You are not fine." She raged, twisting the material of his gi until he found himself following her once again.
"But sessha doesn't have a fever," he argued, feebly pulling on his wrist in an effort to make her release his arm but she would not. "Kaoru-dono," he tried again, stilling her movements with a little more added strength.
"Please, if sessha begins to feel ill—" he paused as Kaoru let him go, real anger beating against his senses as she stepped into his space, a slight look of worry darkening her eyes as she placed a hand against his face. And Kenshin . . . Kenshin jerked away, surprise kindling his eyes as she slowly lowered her hand.
He had not meant to do that, he thought. But she should know better than to touch him. He had spent months trying to avoid such intimacies. Why would she do that now? What the hell had happed the day before to make her think such an action would be welcomed, he thought. Face blank of expression as he regarded her—"Kaoru-dono . . ."
"What? You're sorry?" She asked; hurt transmuting to a deep unguarded anger. A myriad of emotions, eclipsing the brightness in her eyes as she slowly turned her face away. "You're always sorry," she whispered.
As he shook his head, denial making him take a step away—Kaoru nodded. "All right," she said voice barely above a whisper as his attention snapped back to her solemn face—understanding dawning late, as he saw her read his silence as affirmation before she looked at him once more, eyes dark and unreadable, as she turned around and walked away. The dulling sense of anger, dissipating with the distance the slight echo of her anger had threaded through his head.
However he had meant to answer had frozen at her outburst, laying him immobile for a second before realized he needed to go after her. Knowing however undeserving he might feel, the simple truth of the matter did not change the fact that she had chained his heart long before he had ever dreamt possible.
Brokenly, unsure and however else his heart might have felt, froze once again as he caught up with her in the hallway. A cold breeze, tangling through her hair swept it against his arm as he reached for her, hoping to make her turn—when the world around him suddenly dimmed around the edges. The echoes of her voice, coming in and out of focus as he watched the hurt and confusion on her face clear off as she caught him in her arms, concern never wavering as he pulled himself away.
"Gomen nasai," he said, face suffused a dark pink as Kaoru gazed at him. "Sessha . . . sessha didn't mean to trip," he murmured unable to meet to her gaze as she began to smile.
"Kenshin no baka," she whispered, her tone alight with affection as she regarded him once more. "You never listen," she chided. Slowly coaxing him to understand—"You're still sick. Why don't you go rest?"
"Kaoru-dono . . ." He didn't want to argue over this, he realized. Kami only knew, he didn't want to inadvertently hurt her feelings either but what did she expect him to do. He felt fine. Admittedly, he was a little tired and the unexpected dizziness was ill-timed obviously but other than that. He was perfectly fine, he thought, sighing in defeat as she regarded him.
"If sessha takes some medicine now," he proposed, carefully watching her reaction brighten as she smiled. "Can he not just promise to take some rest later?" He asked eyes hopeful as her head tilted in thought.
"Well, I suppose that would be alright," she murmured. "You wouldn't be walking around if you didn't at least feel better than last night . . ." She trailed off, eyes unreadable with an abundance of emotion Kenshin stepped away from, rurouni mask, just barely shielding his retreat.
"Aa," he said, sensing something in her emotions, she quickly tried to blink away.
"Are you hungry?" She asked voice hopeful suddenly as he gazed at her.
"No."
"Kenshin?" She asked, tentatively searching his gaze as he shook his head.
"Gomen nasai," he apologized. "Sessha forgot you haven't eaten," he recalled, plastering a goofy grin over his face before slightly bowing. "We'll eat together just as soon as sessha's made you lunch," he soothed. Mask fully in place as he watched her nod, cold from the inside out as he realized something in his speech, had revealed a twisted little morsel of truth.
"All right," she agreed, smiling lightly as she turned back around. "I'll just get your medicine," she tossed, briefly glancing at him over her shoulder before leaving him alone, in a now deserted hallway. A feeling of dead weight settling over his shoulders as he realized that cold-distance hatred, he'd long ago attributed to the hitokiri's persona, had resurfaced once more . . .
Even after all these years . . .
His thoughts were tainted; no matter what he did or tried to do, Jineh had still somehow sensed it. Saitou had known, of course but Enishi he thought, bitterly turning away—had been the only one to prey upon it. To them; an hitokiri would always be an hitokiri. Nothing he could do or say would ever change the fact he thought, briefly glancing up at the darkening sky before exchanging the warm comfort of the dojo grounds for the cold solitude the rain now offered.
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"Yahiko?" Kaoru called, slight annoyance beginning to wear her temper down. "Come on." She thought; how many times do I have to go through the same thing. "Yahiko!" I'm going to kill you, she thought, inwardly sighing as she looked around. "This isn't funny." She yelled, rounding the corner when the training hall suddenly caught her notice. 'The shoji shouldn't be open,' she murmured, stalking towards it with some determination. "Yahiko—
"Kaoru! Don't . . ."
But it was all a little too late, Yahiko's captor punched him in the stomach, cutting off the rest of any words as the air escaped his lungs. The slight sting of tears, blurring his vision as Kaoru rushed inside.
"Kao . . . oru, no. "
Surprise flickered through her just a second or so, before someone caught her. "Yahiko," she called, straining against the binding hold. "Yahiko, are you all right?"
He could nod, albeit slowly he realized, getting a better look at their captor as he had not been able to before. When he caught me off guard, he thought. Eyes narrowing slightly as it ran over, the man's strange dark gi and if he could remember correctly, onmitsu bottoms, he noted, focusing for a moment on the man's twin set of wrist and leg guards. When it occurred to him, the ensemble would not look so unusual if the man's face wasn't also covered. It was a lot of clothing for . . .
"You're not a thieve . . ." Yahiko whispered, eyes wide as the man looked around Kaoru's struggling frame to look at him.
"I'm here for something a little more valuable." The bandit said, voice strangely deep for someone of Yahiko's stature and Dr. Genzai's weight.
Kaoru immediately stopped her struggle. The fact that the man had been able to get into the dojo was enough to confirm her previous concerns. Kenshin wasn't home. This man, whoever it was, had waited patiently out somewhere close, lingering until the opportune time to sneak inside.
"There is nothing here of Kenshin's." She stated, voice loud and clear, only wavering a little at the end.
"I would beg to differ," the man said, pulling something out of his gi as she tossed a sideways glance towards the side of the room. Yahiko, she thought, watching worriedly as he began to inch towards the practice bokken's she kept on the wall.
"I'd suggest you stop right there," the bandit said, never looking up as he tied Kaoru's hand behind her back, testing the knot before nodding and pulling her along.
"Oi!" Yahiko yelled, grabbing a bokken quick of the wall before scrambling after them. "Oi."
"Yahiko," Kaoru warned, twisting back to look at him. "Stay back." She ordered. Resisting the harsh pull the bandit gave her binds. "I want you to stay back."
"Kaoru, he's not even carrying a sword." He pointed, putting his right foot in front of his left before tightening his hold on his bokken.
"What?" For a moment, she stopped shaking her head, twisting immediately back to look at the bandit.
"Oh, I don't need one for the likes of you," he explained, smiling underneath the garment that hid his face, as he pulled Kaoru forward, she tripped over the last step coming down the veranda, landing messily on the ground below as rain continued to fall around her. Yahiko charged at the man, bokken held up high as he struck down with enough force to make her proud. And yet, as she watched them the bandit simply raised an arm, absorbing the weight of the blow, through a wrist guard, she had not noticed.
"Who are you?" Kaoru asked, face a ghastly shade of white as she slowly made it back to her feet. Eyes ever watchful of her Yahiko, darkened in concern as he staggered back, baffled only briefly before he retook his position, gripping the bokken a little tighter than before charging once again even support distributed through his body, as he raised it, form only a little off as he drew it back—
The bandit punched him in the apex, freezing every feature on his face as he fell back, eyes tightly shut, Kaoru scrambled to his side, pulling hard enough on her wrists to almost tear the fabric free.
"Stop," he growled, getting to her just as she swung her legs under her arms, hands rising protectively in front of her as he approached.
"I don't know what you want," Kaoru said, slowly backing up towards Yahiko, who had not yet resumed breathing. "Please, just let me check on him, all right?"
"No, I don't think so." He said, grabbing her by the arm as she dove for the bokken. "You're a feisty little thing though I'll give you that," he murmured, pulling her hard up against him. "I can see why he likes you."
Enough is enough she thought. "If you have such a problem with Kenshin, why don't you just take it up with him?" She snapped. "I'm sick and tired of being taken hostage and dragged all around," she fumed, her voice only growing louder. "You're all a bunch of cowards—"
Even over her rant, the backhanded slap he delivered against the side of her was loud in the courtyard. The echoes, of it ringing loud and somewhat off, as it reverberated through her skull, stunning her for a moment into a silence that did not last.
"Kenshin!"
Both Kaoru and the bandit stiffened, unaware of the moment, Yahiko had regained conscious.
"Kenshin!" He screamed darting away from the bandit and into the open yard. Unashamed to call for help; not when Kaoru's life depended on it he thought. Pushing aside his pride as he'd once had to do for her before.
No one, he had sworn, would ever take Kaoru away from them. Not ever again and if by that it meant he could not be the one so save her then by Kami, he would at least be the one who'd bring her help he thought, running around in a full figure eight around the yard before heading towards the gate.
"I'm going to kill you," the bandit growled. Catching Yahiko just as he touched the doors, a bloody arm quickly grasping at his throat before the full weight of the unexpected attack hurled them towards the woodened wall.
"Let him, go." Kaoru ordered, tightening her vice like grip around his neck. "Now," she growled, ready to tighten her grip further when he suddenly pushed her off. Posture stiff, as his head swiveled around. "Fuck," he growled, quickly tapering on his rising anger before shoving Yahiko aside, leaving through the gates out as fast as he could. Running and running, until he felt a good safe distance away before ever even considering the possibility of slowing down. Though at this pace, he'd have a hard time catching me, he thought, somewhat more relieved by all the rain, which hadn't let up since the night before.
Just act casual, he told himself, slowly sliding his hands into his pockets, when the unexpected weight of something sharp knocked him back. Eyes catching only shadows of a man, as he bent down, long dark hair obscuring his eyes before all sensation as he knew it, eclipsed to darkness.
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Well another day another chapter, eh? Bet you weren't planning on seeing me so soon again, huh? Oo Well I can't blame you, school, work and all, keeps me sleepy, mostly moody and awfully busy. I do hope however, that you are finding the story to your liking. This chapter was twenty-two pages and not so bad a cliffhanger ne?
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I might have used a couple of Japanese words you don't know and I did try to avoid much of that in the story but there are just some things that don't sound right to me in English. So for reference purposes:
baka: stupid, idiot
bokken: wooden sword; Kaoru's weapon of choice (also called bokutou)
busu: ugly, hag; Yahiko's name for Kaoru
futon: a thin Japanese mattress that is rolled up for the day
gi: jacket-style top
gomen nasai: I'm sorry
hakama: loose pleated pants that tie in front
maa, maa: now, now (Kenshin's basic phrase when trying to break up a domestic argument)
onmitsu: loosely translated, means "ninja"
sake: Japanese rice wine
Toushi (is the name of the bar, Kenshin visits): the kanji, written together to form this word, means "fighting spirit"
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Author's Note:
The beginning of this chapter as I explained in the small notes of the other one, finishes up the day. I think it quite thoroughly explains that what Kenshin saw (in the last clip, with Aoshi, Sano and Misao) was all just a dream. One he could not awaken from and from which we later learn; he keeps no recollection off. Strangely enough, it's not just the dream he can't remember but the whole rest of day. Including his little encounter with Hano, which Kaoru begs Yahiko not to tell.
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Small Notes:
When Kenshin wakes up again, it's sometime before dawn. The sky is dark and the rain still heavy outside when he notices Kaoru casually coiled around him. His first thoughts automatically go through the recall process of events that might have happened before.
He realizes quickly it can't be the same night because their clothing has changed, they're not in her room and he should still be wet. He's confused and dizzy, with not way to explain why he can only recall the day of the river.
However perplexed he has become, the desire to have her is still strong, so much so, he reiterates; he cannot be with her. Even if he questions the truth of his statement, Kenshin leaves, feeling another dizzying spell as he reaches the porch.
Time and nightmares have worn Kenshin thin, perhaps a little more than he realizes. Which can be easily read in his actions not only towards others but in the way he's tried to settle things within himself.
Kenshin's chosen haven is not the river, which as we all know is where he goes to meditate on life's most concerning issues. Instead, he goes to the last place you'd expect the rurouni to go. A bar, which is strange in it by itself. But something else is askew, and it becomes apparent when: 1) he doesn't try to hide his face and 2) he finds it amusing his presence alone, can still cause a spike of fear in others. Yet through it all, you can't be sure when Kenshin's Kenshin and when he's not because since the nightmares began, specifically in the last week, Kenshin's eyes have been shifting color nonstop.
In the mean time, morning dawns, Kaoru stirs and for the life of her can't figure out where the hell, Kenshin's gone. He knows better she thinks. Fuming as she looks for either him or Yahiko through the house. No good for nothing freeloaders, are her thoughts when she stumbles into Yahiko coming from the outhouse.
When asked about Kenshin, Yahiko has no idea where the poor rurouni might have gone. He assumes, Kaoru calmed him down, put him to bed before returning to her own. As they interact, he realizes they're getting wet, he tells her this and for some reason, the small comment leads them into an argument.
Of course, it's when they're threatening each other that Kenshin walks in on them, perplexed by the shifting, nervous ki they're both unknowingly vibrating.
His reaction again is not typical. No, "maa, maa, Kaoru-dono, let sessha calm you down--" speech. He isn't even aware of them been soaking wet until she interrupts his thoughts.
In a flash then the old Kenshin returns, at least momentarily, her injury seems to set something off in him which causes him to withdraw. Not completely but enough for it to become apparent when Kaoru confronts him about his behavior about always being sorry and Kenshin not denying it.
And yet, the rurouni isn't gone. He chases after Kaoru, trips on his own two feet (after a sudden dizzy feeling) and offers to cook her lunch.
His one word response: "No." was short, cold and to the point. It's no wonder Kaoru wanted to make sure who'd she'd spoken to. Since as of late, despite been naïve and quite the innocent, Kaoru is anything but stupid.
Kenshin knows this, maybe even fears it a little. Whatever his usual reaction might have been is suddenly replaced by frustration. The anger which the hitokiri banked in closely has been resurfacing again though it isn't until now, that he realizes this along with a few other things. 1) The anger, which should have been the hitokiri's and his alone, has resurfaced without him turning into Battousai. 2) His thoughts are tainted still, though in what form has yet to be deciphered. 3) Lastly, it is everyone else's belief, Jineh's especially that drives him away. Because an hitokiri will always be an hitokiri, isn't something he could deny. Not to himself, certainly not then.
His need for a little space however, has great repercussions, not only have there been two attempts on Kaoru's life now. But both seemed to be driven by the same motivating factor.
That damn newspaper article, practically told anyone who could read, where Kenshin lived. What he valued most and what he might do to get it back.
The way the bandit spoke to Kaoru, assuming her fiery temper; "is why he may like you so much." Is a direct link, to the article and as well why he'd come. His retrieval of that something valueble however seems to go horribly wrong. Yahiko won't let her go without a fight, while Kaoru refuses him to lay a finger on Yahiko when all he wants is her as a hostage.
His interaction with them suggests, little, to no scouting at all, of the intended victim which could possibly be the determining factor in his failure to kidnap her from the dojo. He never thought to think ahead, he didn't prepare for any possibilities. He most certainly didn't anticipate Yahiko waking up and calling to all four winds for Kenshin to come.
Though surely, that must have been what he sensed. Why else would he have left in such a hurry? Someone's ki scared him off. Though whose, we can't be certain of. Just as we can't be certain of who he ran into at the end, all he saw was a man with long dark hair and in the rain, beneath darkening skies, that could be just about anyone in sight.
I want to thank everyone for reading. Please, don't forget to review.